Restoring Honest Government
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1869 Ulysses S. Grant began his presidency
Jay Gould and James Fisk tried to corner, or
gain a monopoly on, the gold market
They wanted to drive the price of gold up
Gould and gold broker Abel Rathbone Corbin
(Grant’s brother-in-law) tried to convince the
president not to sell gold from the U.S.
treasury to keep the supply of gold low and
the price high
Grant refused but Gould and Corbin spread
rumors that he agreed
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The rumors caused widespread speculation,
or buying and selling, in the gold market
When Grant learned of the rumors, he
ordered his secretary of treasury to sell $4
million of the government’s gold
On Black Friday-Sept. 24, 1869-the price of
gold fell sharply
Many Wall Street investors and speculators
were ruined financially
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This time, Grant’s vice president, Schuyler
Colfax, was involved
Five years earlier, directors of the Union Pacific
Railroad had formed a construction company
called Credit Mobilier of America
The directors then gave the company contracts to
build a section of the transcontinental railroad
The owners of Union Pacific Railroad gave or sold
shares of stock in Credit Mobilier to
congressmembers responsible for awarding
federal land grants to the railroads
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In return, Congress issued federal subsidies
for the cost of the railroad construction
Credit Mobilier was able to overcharge Union
Pacific by more than $20 million
The excess profits went straight into the
pockets of Credit Mobilier’s stockholders
This included members of Congress such as
Schuyler Colfax, who was then the Speaker of
the House
This tarnished Grant’s presidency
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Many wanted to challenge Grant’s presidency
Corruption in Grant’s administration was seen
as a by-product of the spoils system (people
getting jobs as rewards instead of earning
them)
Civil service reform was the battle cry of
Grant’s opponents
However, Grant played on his image as a war
hero and easily won re-election
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1874-scandal over taxation of whiskey
Some officials at the Treasury Department
that received their jobs due to the spoils
system were charged with accepting bribes
from distillers and distributors of whiskey
In return, taxes were reduced on the
distributors
Whiskey Ring
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Many voters distrusted politicians
1873 Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner
published a satirical novel called The Gilded
Ages
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In politics, corruption and greed lurked below
the polite and prosperous luster of American
society during the late 1800s
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Reforming the spoils system was a major
issue in the 1876 election
Rutherford B. Hayes won the election
1877 Hayes issued an executive order
prohibiting federal employees from
participating in political campaigns
New York senator, Roscoe Conkling, defied
Hayes’ orders and led to a split in the
Republican Party
Patronage with government jobs was at issue
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Led by Conkling, Stalwarts strongly opposed
civil service reform
Hayes believed federal jobs should be
awarded based on an examinations rather
than patronage
Another group emerged as a result, the HalfBreeds, who strongly supported civil service
reform and others who did not completely
oppose patronage jobs
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Hayes chose not to run for re-election, noting
the political conflict between the Stalwarts
and the Half-Breeds
The Half-Breeds won the battle to control the
party ticket and named James A. Garfield as
president and Chester A. Arthur as the vice
president nominee
Garfield won the election
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July 2, 1881-less than four months after his
inauguration Garfield was assassinated
Charles Guiteau (guh-TOH) was his assassin
Mentally unstable and was unsuccessful at
getting a government job
Garfield refused to tighten security days
before his assassination
Guiteau felt that by killing Garfield he would
help the Stalwarts
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Pendleton Civil Service Act-President Arthur
passed this bill to establish a Civil Service
Commission to administer competitive
examinations to those people seeking
government jobs
Many Stalwarts refused to support Arthur’s
reform efforts and didn’t support his bid for
the 1884 election
Mugwumps supported Grover Cleveland
Cleveland won the election